Garbage disposals and kitchen sink drains can become contaminated with waste water, resulting in unpleasant odors that disseminate throughout the household. Slow draining sinks and washbasins add to these problems and affect the lives of many people, often resulting in remodeling or other costly repairs. People assume that many sources, including clogs and venting problems, cause the slow draining and spend money needlessly trying to correct the problem. Slow drainage makes keeping the sink clean much more difficult by preventing a user from rinsing the sink clean after use.
Particularly, sink drainage of waste water can move extremely slowly or quickly come to a halt. This happens because waste water pools in the bottom of the sink, which provides a location where bacteria and viruses can accumulate and multiply over time. Many contaminates can linger and infest sink drainage systems such as the buildup of hair, grease, minerals and soap scum. Additionally, odors from the sink can become more pronounced, wafting throughout the entire household. Therefore, a device is needed for clearing slow-running or stagnant water in a sink.
At the present time, there are many types of water overflows for sinks, basins and most, if not all, have a disadvantage in that they are not completely sanitary and the openings for the overflow are situated in locations which are inaccessible for cleaning purposes, particularly in respect to the interiors thereof. In most instances, the overflow is formed in the sink or basin itself, providing an opening at the upper portion of the basin for the discharge of the liquid down into the drain. The space behind the opening is likely to become contaminated and unsanitary, and it is difficult, if not impossible to clean.
Additionally, in newly constructed plumbing systems, it is desired to cap all drains with a stopper. The drains include the waste drain and overflow drains of bathtubs, sinks, washbasins, etc. The drains are capped for a variety of reasons, but two major reasons are to prevent waste material generated by construction from entering the drains and, secondly, to allow pressure testing of the plumbing system. The pressure test is typically required during a building department inspection.
Devices are known that relate to overflow assemblies for sinks and bathtubs. Some devices provide an overflow device assembly for a vessel such as a bathtub or sink, comprising a faceplate and a mating flange. Other devices provide multi-piece waste and overflow units that can be utilized with a bathtub in order to remove waste water via the overflow drain hole. These devices however, do not utilize an adjustable bathroom sink insert comprising pipes, fixtures and rubber caps, wherein the device can be inserted into a sink to block the overflow drain hole, thereby allowing a user to insert a plunger therein.